Policymaker perceptions of citizen needs: heuristics, accuracy, and partisan differences
| Autor: | Natalie Fitzpatrick, Daniel E. Bergan |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
0508 media and communications
Sociology and Political Science Social Psychology 05 social sciences Political Science and International Relations 050602 political science & public administration 050801 communication & media studies Heuristics Psychology Social psychology Social Sciences (miscellaneous) Applied Psychology 0506 political science |
| Zdroj: | Behavioural Public Policy. :1-29 |
| ISSN: | 2398-0648 2398-063X |
| Popis: | Do policymaker perceptions reflect actual citizen needs? A vast literature has explored the extent to which policy is responsive to public opinion, but there is little systematic work on policymaker perceptions of socialproblems. We quantify social problems with a unique dataset of the number of phone calls placed by citizens to a free service that connects Michigan residents to service providers. We combine these data with a survey of local policymakers’ perceptions of social problems facing their own city shows, consistent with theories of bounded rationality, that policymakers use heuristics to make judgments about the extent of constituent needs in their city, and that policymaker perceptions reflect the prevalence of needs. However, partisan perceptions of needs diverge, with Democrats consistently perceiving greater needs than Republicans. There is no evidence that policy activity on the needs in the sample is responsive to constituent needs. We conclude with implications for theories of policy making and avenues for future research. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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